Zither-action.



C. HABERMANN.

ZITHER ACTION.

APPLICATION FlLED JULY 19. I913- RENEWED MAR 25,19I6. 1,181,760.

- Patented May 2,1916.

1 mmvron Charles Habermann ATTORNEYS THE coLuMmA PLM luGRAPH c0" wAsHlNu'roN, D. c

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES HABERMANN, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO OSCAR SCHMIDT, INC., OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

ZITHER-AC'IION.

Patented May 2, 1916.

Application filed July 19, 1913, Serial No. 779,901. Renewed March 25, 1918. Serial No. 86,797.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHAnLEs HABERMANN, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Zither-Action, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The invention relates to citherns and simi lar stringed musical instruments, and its ob ject is to provide a new and improved action arranged to permit the player to readily sound simultaneously a series of bass or accompaniment strings to produce the desired chords in a very simple and effective manner.

In order to produce the desired result use is made of bearing blocks mounted on the body of the instrument at opposite sides of the saidbass or accompaniment strings, striking bars extending across the said accompaniment strings and provided at the under side with cushions, crank arms on the ends of the said striking bars and journaled in the said bearing blocks, and springs attached to the said bearing blocks and eonnected with the said striking bars to move the latter into striking position after being raised and released, the said springs normally holding the striking bars in dormant position with the cushions standing directly above the strings.

A practical embodiment of the invention is represented in the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the stringed musical instrument; Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional side elevation of the same on the line 22 of Fig. 1; .Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross section of the same on the line 33 of Fig. 1. Fig. A is a similar view of the same on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a like view of the same on the line 55 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 6 is a similar view of the same on the line 66 of Fig. 1.

The body A of the stringed musical instrument is a box-like structure similar to the ones used in regular citherns, and on the said body A are mounted in the usual manner a set of melody strings B and a set of bass or accompaniment strings C, the sets being preferably spaced apart, as plainly indicated in Fig. 1. On the top of the body A are secured bearing blocks D and E arranged on opposite sides of the bassor ac companiment strings C, and ranging in the direction of the length thereof, and across the bass or accompaniment strings C extend a series of striking bars F, F, F and F provided at their ends with crank arms G journaled in the bearing blocks D and E to permit the striking bars F F, F and F to swing up and down. The striking bars F, F, F and F are provided at the under side with cushions H adapted to engage and sound corresponding bass or accompaniment strings C, the cushions on each barbeing so arranged relative to the strings to sound a chord whenever a striking bar is actuated, as hereinafter more fully described. It is understood that the cushions H of the several striking bars F, F, F and F are differently arranged so that each striking bar is adapted to sound a different chord as will be readily understood by reference to Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6. As shown in Fig. 3, the first bar F has its cushions H so arranged that the notes G, E, C, G, C, E are struck and sounded as a chord. The cushions H of the striking bar F as shown in Fig. A are arranged to sound the notes G, G, B, D as a chord. The cushions H of the striking bar F are arranged to strike the notes C, F, A, C, F as a chord as shown in Fig. 5. The cushions H of the striking bar F as shown in Fig. 6 are arranged to strike and sound the notes G, F, G, B, D, F as a chord.

Springs 1, preferably of the coil type, are attached at one end to screws or pins J secured to the bearing block D, and the other end of the springs are connected with the striking bars F, F, F and F The springs I are normally in a relaxed or closed position and while in this position support the striking bars in normal inactive position, that is, with the cushions extending directly above the strings without touching the same, as will be readily understood by reference to Fig. 2. When it is desired to sound a chord the corresponding striking bar F, F, F or F is swung upward by the player so that the corresponding spring I is placed under tension, and when the player releases the raised striking bar then the spring returns the striking bar and in doing so the cushions H of the striking bar engage and sound the corresponding strings to produce the desired chord.

In order to permit convenient upward movement of the striking bars F, F, F and F their tops are provided with finger pieces K adapted to be pressed by the thumb of the players left hand.

It is understood that when a striking bar F swings downward by the action of its spring I, the latter causes a rebound after the strings are struck by the cushions, so that the latter immediately leave the strings and thus allow the same to fully sound the chord.

By reference to Fig. 2, it will be noticed that each spring I is inclined and its attaching screw J is located to one side of the axis of the corresponding crank arm G so that even should the striking bar F, F, i or F be swung upward until the crank arm G stands in vertical position, the spring I will return the striking bar after being released by the player to sound the strings.

By raising the striking bars F, F, F and F more or less and then releasing thg same, the chords are sounded louder or softer.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

A stringed musical instrument of the class described, comprising a body, sets of melody and sets of accompaniment strings mounted on the said body, the sets being spaced apart, bearing blocks mounted on the said body at opposite sides of the said accompaniment strings, striking bars extending across the said accompaniment strings and each provided at the under side with a series of spaced cushions normally above the said accompaniment strings, crank arms on the ends of the said striking bars and journaled in the said bearing blocks, and springs attached to the said bearing blocks and connected with the said striking bars to move the latter into striking posit-ion after being first swung upward by the player and then released, the said springs being normally in relaxed position and supporting the striking bars in inactive position and the cushions being out of engagement with the strings.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHAR-LES HABERMANN.

Witnesses:

CHARLES DEI-IN, Eennn'r EGBERTS.

Copies of thin patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commiuioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

